Cheat days, what's yours like
Replies
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Indulging is different than cheating. I have indulgences all the time that put me over my calorie goals, but I also have many days that I'm under. "Cheating" doesn't exist in my world. When I indulge, I usually do so on sushi, a pizza at the bowling alley, or jalapeno poppers...because let's be honest those things are AMAZING.0
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"Live a little" is what fat people say to you when you lose weight and you don't want to eat French fries or dessert or whatever it is they're trying to get you to eat so you'll be just like everyone else. Some of us need to stick with our good habits, almost all the time, because it reinforces the harder, but healthier, way of eating.[/quote]
this I REALLY like!!0 -
Cheat days are most weekends for me!
I love my social life, I love going to the pub for a drink and eating out with friends.
I want to loose weight but not at the cost of loosing my life.
I'm super good all week so that I can indulge in pizza and wine and Chinese food and chocolate and beer and FUN at the weekend
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I got this in my email yesterday:
Having Cheat Days
You stay on track all week, so you deserve a little reward, right? Not so fast. "One cheat day can undo all the weight-loss work you've put in during the week," warns Willow. If you devote an entire day to eating foods that don't push you toward your goal, "the only person you're cheating is yourself . . . and that's not good in the short term or long term." Instead, stick to the one small treat each day, and you shouldn't need a whole day to let loose.
It has been working for me for almost 4 years now.
Although, as with most things related to achieving a healthier life, you have to do what works best for you.
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Each to their own but I don't really 'get' cheat days - the word has such a negative connotation. Would you be happy if your significant other had a cheat day with the hot 22 year old neighbour every now and then??? I eat chocolate every day, I eat Kettle chips at the weekends, I drink way too much wine at the weekend too but generally I have completely overhauled my nutritional diet, am aware of portion sizes suitable for me and I exercise hard and regularly. I don't log at present as I have learnt what's working and right for me, I weigh regularly and keep an eye on how my clothes fit to ensure that things are maintaining.
But as I said.....each to their own 0 -
i eat whatever I want and fit it into my calorie/macro/micro targets….food is not cheats, it is just food.
if I go over for the day, big deal, I will just make it up the next day.
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lithezebra wrote: »lithezebra wrote: »lithezebra wrote: »cookielover_96 wrote: »Thin_Beauty94 wrote: »You cheat days are sad. Seriously y'all need to live a little
Yup agreed
"Live a little" is what fat people say to you when you lose weight and you don't want to eat French fries or dessert or whatever it is they're trying to get you to eat so you'll be just like everyone else. Some of us need to stick with our good habits, almost all the time, because it reinforces the harder, but healthier, way of eating.
Ok that makes me sad, lol. Can't imagine having to eat that way all my life.
I don't go around being sad about other people's choices, but if I did, I would think that eating treats was a poor substitute for other pleasures.
Like what... fitting in a size 0 dress? Which I'll never be able to do with my frame anyway...
But more treats for me!
Enjoy your treats, and good luck with your maintenance, @Francl27 . It isn't a contest to be a particular size, just like it isn't necessary to put people down for exercising self control. However, fitting into your ideal size, whatever it is, and staying that way, is worth a few small sacrifices, to me.
you can eat the foods you like and still meat your goals….0 -
lithezebra wrote: »Thin_Beauty94 wrote: »You cheat days are sad. Seriously y'all need to live a little
Different strokes. I have fun fitting into my size 0 dresses instead of eating whatever I want.
your priorities are all kinds of out of whack.
how old are you?
regardless (cause i honestly dont care what kind of self imposed possibly eating disordered word you live in), i dont do cheat days and make the things i love fit in my calories on a regular basis. that includes chocolate and alcohol and pizza and alllll kinds of gooey yumminess.
ill have a piece of cake for you hunny.
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OP - the most calories I've managed to eat was 4500ish calories on a PMS day. It was a bad day though and I didn't really enjoy it and it was just mindless snacking to make the hunger go away... Otherwise a good 'I don't care about calories' day for me is typically around 3000 calories, then I'm full and satisfied.. but it doesn't happen much...
I actually haven't had a 'I don't care about calories' day for a while now and I'm actually getting to the point where I need one, but I can't even find something that would be worth the calories for me to splurge on right now. It's sad. Maybe a good cheese fondue with homemade bread...0 -
In the "I don't have cheat days/meals because I fit in the foods I like regularly without having to make a 'thing' of it" camp.0
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Right now I only eat one cheat day per week so when I do... It's game time
Last cheat meal:
1.5lb cheddar cheese burger, bacon, onions
Fries with jalapeño cheese sauce
Oreo milk shake
was amazing 0 -
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Well, given that proper nutrition is all about the big picture, there really is no such thing as a "cheat meal" or "cheat food" or "cheat day" as long as the bulk of your diet is based around nutrient dense, minimally processed foods.
I don't think about my diet in terms of individual food items, I look at it as one complete, overall package. I don't tell myself that "this food is good” and “that food is bad”, because our bodies doesn’t see it like that.
I just aim to get 80-90% of my diet from high quality proteins, carbs and healthy fats, and then the other 10-20% can come from whatever i like as long as it fits into my daily calorie/macronutrient totals. 0 -
lithezebra wrote: »lithezebra wrote: »lithezebra wrote: »cookielover_96 wrote: »Thin_Beauty94 wrote: »You cheat days are sad. Seriously y'all need to live a little
Yup agreed
"Live a little" is what fat people say to you when you lose weight and you don't want to eat French fries or dessert or whatever it is they're trying to get you to eat so you'll be just like everyone else. Some of us need to stick with our good habits, almost all the time, because it reinforces the harder, but healthier, way of eating.
Ok that makes me sad, lol. Can't imagine having to eat that way all my life.
I don't go around being sad about other people's choices, but if I did, I would think that eating treats was a poor substitute for other pleasures.
Like what... fitting in a size 0 dress? Which I'll never be able to do with my frame anyway...
But more treats for me!
Enjoy your treats, and good luck with your maintenance, @Francl27 . It isn't a contest to be a particular size, just like it isn't necessary to put people down for exercising self control. However, fitting into your ideal size, whatever it is, and staying that way, is worth a few small sacrifices, to me.
you can eat the foods you like and still meat your goals….
shhhh, it's a secret.0 -
Saturdays are my quality day with my partner. This usually means staying in bed until noon, nomming bacon and eggs and waffles for brunch, and then going out for dinner and a movie or some music after. If I had to give up my Saturday waffles, I'd die.0
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No cheat days. I'm having enough popcorn for 4 people tonight and ice cream with pb2, oreos, and twix. It's just Thursday.0
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On Sundays we do family dinner, and my mother has no respect for my weight loss goals. I mean, she respects them, but she won't change anything for them, which is fine, I guess. A bit sucky when everyone around you is eating a big ol' piece of 4 sticks of butter coffee cake with pecan crumble, but I can handle it. Although, I think this week it might have finally sunk in a bit because I was saving my cheat day for a date, and while I had a little bit of everything besides the meat course, it was truly a little bit and I think she felt a bit guilty. So, my cheat day is generally one good, home cooked, country meal with dessert not to exceed maintenance calories; about 1800-2000 calories.0
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I love dessert and beer.... often..... so I love workouts. 0
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Larissa_NY wrote: »snowflake930 wrote: »Larissa_NY wrote: »snowflake930 wrote: »Larissa_NY wrote: »Why would you need a "cheat day" when you're at maintenance? I thought the point of those was to take a diet break.
Sometimes I overdo the tacos and margaritas on a special occasion, but I'm not going to stuff myself just because it's Saturday. That seems weird to me.
If you addressing me about the "Why would you need a "cheat day" when you're at maintenance?" It is because I can not, nor can anyone on maintenance, at least that I know about, eat above maintenance calories, without regaining weight.
I wasn't addressing anyone in particular, and your answer doesn't seem to have anything to do with my question. Yes, if you eat too far over maintenance consistently, for long enough, you'll gain weight. What does that have to do with cheat days and why you'd need them if you're not restricting your calories anymore?
But I am restricting my calories @ maintenance. I don't eat like I did pre-MFP, not anywhere near it. Just so you realize, some of us do not have to eat too far over maintenance to gain weight. And yes, I am restricting my calories. I do not have cheat days. I eat at or below my maintenance calories. I am only eating about 300-400 more calories per day than I did while I was losing. I could easily eat more than double what I am eating at maintenance.
JW, why do you think such a high percentage of people regain all of the weight they lost, and some gain even more than they lost.
Honestly? I always assumed that either (a) they lost the weight doing the Cabbage Soup diet or some such nonsense, and didn't learn useful things like portion sizes, caloric and nutrient density, or the concept of sometimes foods; or (b) depending on how overweight they were, they spent too much time memorizing the number of calories in six grams of carrot cake and not enough time dealing with the issues that caused them to eat enough to sustain two full-grown adults to begin with.
I'm small, female, and over 45, so I don't have a whole lot of wiggle room with regard to calories either, but there would be no way I could consistently eat twice my maintenance calories. I'd just get tired of eating that much. Of course people who were very heavy can't eat like they did before they lost the weight; it just never occurred to me that anyone might actually want to. So this thread has been educational in that regard.
I'm going to edit this and say that it sort of sounds like I'm being snarky, but I'm not. It just really is endlessly fascinating to me that obese people and normal-weight people think about food so differently that it's like it isn't even the same substance.
Well, it's more that we become obese because we respond differently to food. Some people may become obese because they have other issues - stress, depression, etc. - that they turn to food as an escape from, while others like me just have issues with hunger and satiety. I've been obese since I was 8 or 9. I don't think I'll ever be "normal", even after losing the rest of the weight - at best I'll have "obesity in remission". I'm definitely assuming counting calories is a lifelong thing for me, since I know if I eat freely I will gain a ton of weight back.0 -
Don't really get the concept as I'm not cheating anyone, including me, by eating more some days than others or enjoying good food.
To me the idea sounds like restriction most days and freedom only a few days - that wouldn't be a happy or sustainable long term routine for me.
I needed to hear this...thanks!0
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